The use or misuse of stolen or counterfeit credit cards is an ever- present problem. Widely used credit cards have some data encrypted on the back, which identifies the account number of an authorized holder. Such information commonly includes four sets of four digits which is machine read at a transaction point for verification that it is a valid number, the account is open and there is a sufficient balance in the account to cover the transaction. The term "balance" refers to the difference in the credit limit on the account and the sum then owing. As used herein the term "transaction" refers to an exchange having a monetary value, such as a purchase of goods or services, or making a cash withdrawal from a bank against a credit card. In a typical transaction, a purchaser selects an item and offers payment by credit card. The sales attendant will enter the price of an item(s) and a name or code identifying the item(s). This is commonly done by an optical reader reading a bar code on the item(s) or container therefore. This information together with the account number, read from the credit card, is transmitted to a remote database which contains data representative of accounts of millions of cardholders at addresses identified by the card number. The transmitted number from the presented credit card addresses the account of the authorized cardholder. A computation is electronically made to determine that there is a sufficient balance in the account to cover the purchase and a check to determine if the account is still open for further transactions. If these checks are positive, a signal is transmitted back to the transaction point to indicate that the charge is accepted. If either of these checks are negative a signal is sent to the point of transaction declining the transaction. This information is made visual to the attendant on a video monitor However, this does not enable the attendant at the point of transaction to verify that the person presenting the credit card is the authorized cardholder.
As used herein "transaction point" or "point of transaction" refers to the site where a card is presented to make a purchase or any other type of transaction, which requires presentation of a credit card. "Attendant" refers to the person who receives the credit card who may be a salesperson, a bank teller or any other person having responsibility and authority to act upon receipt of a presented card.
More secure systems have been proposed. U. S. Pat. No. 4,636,632 discloses an identification system where the finger prints of a card presenter are scanned and compared with finger prints on file at a central data base. After comparison, use of the card is authorized or declined. This type of system requires that a scanner be present at the point of a transaction and requires time for the fingers to be accurately positioned for scanning. It is easy to make an initial inaccurate or incomplete scan which results in taking time for another scan or a refusal to accept the card.
It has also been proposed to digitally encode a photograph of the authorized cardholder on a credit card and display this image on a monitor at a point of transaction. Since it is not difficult to read encoded data on a credit card an unauthorized person can obtain a likeness of the encoded photo and in some cases disguise himself as the authorized cardholder. Such systems are disclosed in U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,754,487 and 4,972,476.
Thus far, none of the systems requiring comparison of a characteristic of a credit card presenter with a stored characteristic or digitally encoding a photograph of an authorized credit card holder are known to be in commercial use.
The present invention provides a new and improved system for identifying an authorized credit card holder which does not require any action on the part or a credit card presenter to match a characteristic of the presenter with a stored characteristic and which does not require the digital encoding of a characteristic such as a photo of the authorized card holder on the card. The present invention permits the attendant at a point of transaction to view, not only a photo of the authorized card holder, but other personal data in the event the photograph is not conclusive of identification. The invention may be utilized in conjunction with existing credit cards as well as incorporated in newly issued credit cards.
An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method of identification of an authorized credit card holder which requires no action on the part of the card presenter and which will provide an attendant at a point of transaction with a photograph of the authorized card holder as well as other personal data of the authorized card holder.
Another object of this invention is to provide such a new and improved method of identification, which may be used with existing credit cards with no change to the card.
A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improved method of identifying an authorized credit card presenter by providing the attendant at a point of transaction with personal data if a photograph downloaded from a database is not conclusive.